Spain and Great Britain Dominate Podiums at Inaugural Long Beach Sprints

Long Beach held its first international beach sprint competition this past weekend, featuring rowers from Spain, Great Britain and the USA. A little over two years from now, the same venue will be host to a much bigger regatta: the LA28 Olympic Games.

The British and Spanish federations sent some of their top beach sprint talent to the race, and with the main U.S. names absent, the two foreign teams dominated the Olympic events (the men’s and women’s solos and the mixed doubles). No local rowers reached the semifinals, and boasting a bigger and more experienced team, Spain mostly squeezed out Great Britain. While Laura McKenzie defeated Teresa Díaz to win the women’s solos and James Cox took home the silver medal from the men’s, Spanish rowers won all of the other senior medals.

Demonstrating that age may be neither an advantage nor a disadvantage, the oldest and youngest Spanish rowers tied for the best results. Adrían Miramón, age 35, won a gold alongside Nadia Felipe in the doubles and a bronze in the solos, while Miguel Salas, age 22, took the gold in the solos and a bronze with Teresa Díaz in the doubles.

The good, or bad, news for Spain is that all of its six athletes medalled. Although the competition at worlds will be much tougher, there seems a good chance that any of these rowers could seal a place for LA28 when qualification begins next year. However, at the Oeiras 2027 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, a maximum of two rowers of each gender will be able to compete in the Olympic events, and at LA28, a maximum of one.

The complete podiums from the Long Beach Sprints were:

CW1x:

1. Laura McKenzie – Great Britain
2. Teresa Díaz – Spain
3. Esther Briz – Spain

CM1x:

1. Miguel Salas – Spain
2. James Cox – Great Britain
3. Adrían Miramón – Spain

CMix2x:

1. Nadia Felipe, Adrían Miramón – Spain
2. Esther Briz, Ander Martín – Spain
3. Teresa Díaz, Miguel Salas – Spain

U19 CW1x:

1. Katie Perry – Channel Islands
2. Elle Bzoskie

U19 CM1x:

1. Kai Bzoskie
2. Roo Perry

U19 CMix2x:

1. Elle Bzoskie, Kai Bzoskie

Masters CM1x:

1. Frank Tucker – Bair Island